Abdominal Pain

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

Bhupinder S. Anand, MBBS, MD, DPHIL (OXON)

Dr. Anand received MBBS degree from Medical College Amritsar, University of Punjab. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Postgraduate Institute of medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. He was trained in the field of Gastroenterology and obtained the DPhil degree. Dr. Anand is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.

Abdominal pain facts

Abdominal pain is pain that is felt in the part of the trunk below the ribs and above the pelvis.

Abdominal pain comes from organs within the abdomen or organs adjacent to the abdomen.

Abdominal pain is caused by inflammation, distention of an organ, or by loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may be caused by contraction of the intestinal muscles or hyper-sensitivity to normal intestinal activities.

The cause of abdominal pain is diagnosed on the basis of the characteristics of the pain, physical examination, and testing. Occasionally, surgery is necessary for diagnosis.

The diagnosis of the cause of abdominal pain is challenging because the characteristics of the pain may be atypical, tests are not always abnormal, diseases causing pain may mimic each other, and the characteristics of the pain may change over time

What is abdominal pain?

Abdominal pain is pain that is felt in the abdomen. The abdomen is an anatomical area that is bounded by the lower margin of the ribs and diaphragm above, the pelvic bone (pubic ramus) below, and the flanks on each side. Although abdominal pain can arise from the tissues of the abdominal wall that surround the abdominal cavity (such as the skin and abdominal wall muscles), the term abdominal pain generally is used to describe pain originating from organs within the abdominal cavity. Organs of the abdomen include the stomach, small intestine, colon, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas.

Technically, the lowermost portion of the area described previously, is the pelvis, which contains the urinary bladder and rectum, as well as the prostate gland in men, and the uterus, Fallopian tubes, and ovaries in women. Practically speaking, it often is difficult to know if lower abdominal pain is coming from the lower abdomen or pelvis.

Occasionally, pain may be felt in the abdomen even though it is arising from organs that are close to, but not within, the abdominal cavity. For example, conditions of the lower lungs, the kidneys, and the uterus or ovaries can cause abdominal pain. On the other hand, it also is possible for pain from organs within the abdomen to be felt outside of the abdomen. For example, the pain of pancreatic inflammation may be felt in the back. These latter types of pain are called "referred" pain because the pain does not originate in the location that it is felt. Rather, the cause of the pain is located away from where it is felt (i.e., it is referred to a different area).